1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of welding jigs. More specifically, the present invention comprises a multifunctional squaring jig capable of holding various workpieces in perpendicular orientation when welding.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various jigs are available for holding workpieces when welding. FIG. 1 illustrates a squaring jig which may be used to hold two pieces of angle iron in a perpendicularly abutting relationship. Square 10 generally includes holder 12 and holder 14 which are joined by support member 24. Holder 12 has surface 16 and surface 18 which form a perpendicular interior corner. Likewise, holder 14 has surface 20 and surface 22 which form a perpendicular interior corner. When using square 10, a piece of angle iron is placed in each holder such that the corner of the angle iron is situated in the perpendicular interior corner and the angle iron mates with both of the perpendicularly situated mating surfaces. The angle iron may be held in place with clamps or by hand when welding. Further, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,379 to Leon, magnets may be employed on surfaces 16, 18, 20, and 22 to hold the workpieces in place.
Although squaring jigs such as the ones shown in FIG. 1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,379 to Leon are useful for holding relatively small workpieces together (such as pieces of angle iron), they are not well suited for holding larger pieces together (such as metal sheets. These applications typically require a more customized solution. For example, the welder may use a carpentry square to align the sheets and then clamp the sheets together with clamps. When attaching the clamps, the sheets often come out of alignment. Thus, the setup should be rechecked with the carpentry square to make sure that the components are still in alignment prior to welding. Such a process may require multiple adjustments before the components are finally secured in the desired orientation. It would therefore be desirable to provide a welding jig which can easily align two sheets of material and maintain the sheets in alignment during welding.
In addition, a welder generally has a large collection of jigs for the many different applications the welder expects to encounter. These jigs take up workspace and are prone to misplacement. Searching for a misplaced jig wastes time and can be extremely frustrating. Thus it would be desirable to have a single jig which can be used in many different welding applications.